On the frontlines of the global climate emergency
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There has never been a time of greater promise or greater challenge for the future of our oceans. This was the topic on everyone’s minds as the international community gathered in Copenhagen this week for the first Global Planning Meeting for the UN Decade of Ocean...
Guest post submitted by: Michael Møller, Director-General, United Nations Office at Geneva. 100 years ago this year, the League of Nations was created in Geneva. The end of the First World War marked a watershed in many ways, and one of them was the bankruptcy of...
It’s crunch time in Katowice, on what it supposed to be the last day of COP24, but the talks are heading for an all-nighter. It is not unusual for climate conferences to run late—in fact, they all do. But it is always a question of how late.
Some of the world’s countries that are most vulnerable to climate change took center stage at COP24. Led by the Marshall Islands, the Climate Vulnerable Forum countries issued a plea for accelerated action. “We are out of time,” said Marshall Island President Hilda Heine in a video. Rising sea levels, she said, threatened the country with extinction, yet that has not stopped the country from submitting a new nationally climate commitment.
Ratcheting up the pressure - Tension is rising at COP24 as the clock ticks down on the time available to complete the Paris Agreement Work Programme—which is supposed to guide countries as they implement the agreement. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the meeting that “it is a moment of truth” and that “Katowice must be the dawn of a new determination to unleash the promise of the Paris Agreement.”
Significant progress in the negotiating texts has been achieved, but several political issues remain, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa told ministers and other high-level officials who have come Katowice to complete the negotiations on the guidelines for implementing the Paris Agreement.
Live from COP24 - watch our interviews with climate leaders and advocates that aim to raise awareness on climate issues that are facing us, as well as inspire action from stakeholders around the world.